Struggling grandparents call for more flexible childcare system

COTA Australia says grandparents want a childcare system that adapts to the modern working hours of parents.

Clarissa Thorpe: ABC News

The peak organisation for older Australians says grandparents filling holes in the childcare system are exhausted and more needs to be done to make the system flexible.

COTA Australia has made a submission to the Productivity Commission's inquiry into child care after conducting research into grandparents who often act as informal carers for their grandchildren.

The group's chief executive Ian Yates says they have found grandparents need more support, with some calling for short training courses and a more flexible formal childcare system that adapts to modern working hours.

"What we want to say is that the grandparents that we talked to are all enjoying looking after their grandchildren, they value the experience and they are keen to help," he said.

"[But] ... what they've asked us to do is to convey to this official Productivity Commission inquiry into child care and early learning, that they are making a huge contribution.

"The system has holes in it that is relying on them being there, which sometimes can interfere with that enjoyment and interfere with the rest of their lives."

Mr Yates says the childcare system and financial support around it has not adapted to the modern working arrangements of parents.

"We need to look at when child care is needed at odd hours outside of normal business hours, of which a great deal of work happens now in Australia, and when it's needed, flexibly for unexpected situations," he said.

"Those are all the things that grandparents fill in for at the moment.

"The formal childcare system only cares for twice as many children as the informal system does."

Not about subsidies for grandparents

Mr Yates says the message from grandparents was not about introducing government subsidies for informal carers.

But he says some changes to subsidies are something that should be explored.

"The call was to make the formal childcare system more flexible," he said.

"That may require changing the subsidies and we would want to explore that with experts in that field and with the Productivity Commission.

"It may also mean making conditions on certain kinds of subsidies so that child care has to be more flexible and more responsive."

They're the silent propers up of a system that isn't otherwise meeting needs and some of them have called for support in the form of short courses.

COTA Australia's Ian Yates

Mr Yates says grandparents want recognition of what they are doing and support in the form of training.

"They're the silent propers up of a system that isn't otherwise meeting needs and some of them have called for support in the form of short courses and so on when they're asked to step into major caring roles that they haven't done for many years," he said.

Grandparents retiring to care for grandchildren

Mr Yates says some grandparents are retiring early and giving up part-time or full-time work to care for their grandchildren.

"That was the only solution that that family could come up with as to how to get the child care done," he said.

"What that means is that the country's productivity is affected.

"While one person, usually the children's mother, goes into the workforce, the grandmother comes out of the workforce and it means that they're not saving for their superannuation as much, it means they're going to be more reliant on the pension."

The Productivity Commission's draft report on child care and early learning is due in July before the final report in October.